NO TRIVIA

March 20, 2012 – Too often, the focus of New York rap, particularly the bringin'-it-back type, is on airtight perfection. Queens rapper Action Bronson's Blue Chips, a collaboration with Brooklyn producer Party Supplies, is demo-like and imperfect, and much more interesting because of that.

March 20, 2012 – Today, 16-year-old Diggy Simmons releases his debut album, Unexpected Arrival. It consists of 12 tasteful tracks of boilerplate rapping, wrapped around a rather distasteful conceit that it's time, after much struggle, for Diggy to shine. The guy outta nowhere who's here to change the game, carrying an underdog's chip on his shoulder — this has been the blueprint for a hip-hop debut for a couple decades.

March 16, 2012 – Philip had a great idea with the "Friday Five" over at his dance blog Control Voltage, so I'm just going to rip him off. I must admit, I didn't go to a totally awesome record store and curate my picks, as he's been known to do, though. I just sat at my computer like a lard and obsessively downloaded and streamed anything that seemed even remotely interesting. But, before we get started: I will not be hoodwinked by Nas.

March 16, 2012 – Apparently, even a successful major label album requires an apology. Last month, Wiz Khalifa posted a letter to his fans on Tumblr that said this of 2011's Rolling Papers: "The album did great numbers, but creatively wasn’t my best work." Wiz's latest mixtape, Taylor Allderdice, named after his Pittsburgh high school and the first since that apologia, has been billed as a return to the form of his earlier mixtapes.

March 15, 2012 – In the clip for "Survival Tactics," the best Nas-circa-1994 rap song of 2012 so far, Brooklyn's Joey Bada$$ and rappin'-ass friend Capital Steez invoke Occupy Wall Street, the lost youth gangsta flick Gomorrah, and golden era, gritty hip-hop gone DSLR.

March 15, 2012 – Last week, Jay Electronica announced that he has handed over his long-awaited debut album, Act II: Patents Of Nobility, to his label, Roc Nation. Though there is plenty of excitement, the news was met with a collective shrug as well. He had previously mentioned its completion in July of 2011, and usually, you drop a release date, not a gave-it-to-the-label-so-they-can-give-me-notes-on-it, date.